Over 60 acts lined up for this year’s Lake of Stars festival

Lucius; back at the lake festival

Over 60 acts are expected to perform at this year’s Lake of Stars
festival from across all the artistic genres, according to the press
statement of the organisers.


The festival will see the local artists such as the reggae power house
The Black Missionaries, Lucius Banda, Maskal and Skefa Chimoto rubbing shoulders with international musicians in the name of the United
Kingdom based Foals and Freshlyground.



Foals second album, Total Life Forever, was recognised as an album of
the year at the 2010 Mercury Music Awards.

The album entered the UK charts at number 8 this May - since then the
band have been touring non-stop (UK, Europe, USA, Japan) as well as
playing a selection of the world’s most prolific festivals this summer
to incendiary reactions across the globe.

“Lake of Stars has long wanted the Foals to perfom in Malawi. They
have energy and influences that are surely set to make their set the
place to be this September,” reads part of the statement.

Freshlyground was formed in early 2002, and is made up of seven
talented and diverse musicians from South Africa, Mozambique and
Zimbabwe. Fronted by the diminutive but dynamic Zolani Mahola, the
band exudes a live performance energy that has been the bedrock of
their success.

A major highlight for 2010 was Freshlyground’s collaboration with
Colombian superstar Shakira on the Official Song for the FIFA Soccer
World Cup 2010. Entitled ‘Waka Waka-This Time For Africa” the song is
featured on “Listen Up: The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Album.

“Freshlyground have been on Lake of Stars radar for a number of years
and having checked them put in Malawi in October last year are proud
to provide a platform for their first ever public performance in
Malawi,” reads part of the statement

This year’s festival will also see regular headliners Black
Missionaries and Lucius Banda returning on the performance list having
boycotted last year due to payment disagreements.

“They are live legends of Malawi and never fail to draw a crowd with
their take on reggae. Expect to be singing along by the end of their
set event if you haven't heard the songs before. Black Missionaries
have performed at nearly every festival and Lake of Stars are proud to
put the people's favourites back on an international stage

“Lucius’s performances always impress with a dynamic mix of the
traditional and contemporary. Expect a full stage and crowd when he
performs again at Lake of Stars. Lucius has performed at a number of
Lake of Stars festivals and is a cross over musician that can
effortlessly entertain a crowd from across the globe,” the statement
said.

Lake of Stars is an award winning festival that takes place in the
warm heart of Africa on the palm fringed shores of the continent’s
third largest lake and a year round project working in the UK to
promote arts, travel and development. In 2010 the festival generated
$1,000,000 of local spend with around a third being in foreign
currency

Will Jameson set up the event in 2004 to encourage international
tourism to Malawi. Lake of Stars takes inspiration from events like
Live Aid, WOMAD and Glastonbury . The difference is that LOS uses
arts-tourism to generate revenue and exposure for Malawi.

The festival was borne from a desire to raise money for a developing
economy, help promote Malawi as a tourist destination and expose
Malawian artists to international crowds.

Set on the shimmering, palm-fringed shores of Lake Malawi
International and African artists gather for a musical, social and
cultural exchange unlike anything you will have seen before. For many
the festival is the focal point of travelling around this beautiful
country, forming part of an itinerary spanning what Malawi has to
offer.

Will Jameson first visited Malawi in 1998 when he worked in Dwangwa as
a volunteer with the Wildlife Society for 6 months. During that time
he travelled to Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique.

On returning to England Will took with him a souvenir – an empty
carton of ‘Chibuku Shake Shake’ beer. Half way through university at
Liverpool John Moores he decided to start a clubnight with friends
Damo Jones, Charlene McDaid and Rich McGinnis.

They named the night after the Malawian beer and went on to win Best
UK Club in the Mixmag Awards in 2004.

It was in this same year that Will launched the first Lake of Stars
Festival headlined by Chibuku favourite, Groove Armada’s Andy Cato .
The festival attracted dozens of people from the UK and hundreds
attended from all over Malawi and Southern Africa . It won the Malawi
Tourism Award in its first year and is now one of the highlights of
the international festival calendar.